Tuesday, November 11, 2008

First we got to have my brother Richard from Alpine, Utah come stay with us for a few days. There is just something nice about having my brother sleep under the same roof as me after all these years.

We use to share a room growing up and we'd practice our spelling words out loud, and then he would tell me to turn off the light so we could go to sleep. And I would say to him, "He who wants the nut must crack the shell." I think I saw that in some book I was reading.
Then I would lie in bed and listen to him crack all his knuckles. Yep, I'd go to sleep listening to the pop, pop, pop.

I wanted to take a picture of Richard sleeping like I do my smaller guests, but I decided to settle on this picture of him watching the BYU game with Den, Mondel, and my Dad.

Dad, Richard, Dennis, MondelOur furniture has still not arrived so we have a menagerie
of chairs we took from other parts of our house.

Saturday night Richard took us out for a great Chinese dinner. I hadn't eaten Chinese food in nearly 5 years and had forgotten how wonderful it can be. Thank you Richard!

And there's more...
Yesterday morning my cousin Kathy, from Bakersfield came to see me. This was such a treat. We literally talked for hours, mostly reminisced about our childhoods together. She grew up down the block from Beverly Hills High, (home of 90210). I was fascinated by her neighborhood. It seemed we were surrounded by movie stars. Richard and I would take the Continental Bus from Fresno to her Beverly Hills and spend the week at times with Kathy and her sister Nonie, and our Aunt Hegge.

I learned a few things from Kathy yesterday. Her mom didn't have her own bedroom when they were growing up. Strange to think now, but I never even noticed that as a child. Kathy said she slept every night on a pull down bed in the living room. Raising her daughters as a single mom, she opted for the less expensive 1 bedroom apartment so they could be in a better school district for her girls. What a testament of a mother's love.

Kathy and I went out to lunch with my dad, Susan, my sister Robin and her daughter Brooke.

My niece Brooke, my sister Robin, and my cousin Kathy.

Please come back again Kathy!! It was a great day!

WAIT, there's still more.

Then last night we had a family potluck at my brother Scott and Kim's house.

Kate, Laurynn, McKenzie, Macie, Tess, and Kylie

Good food
We never coordinate our food but it always seems to work out.

My beautiful nieces, Lauren, Brooke, and Samantha
Amy and the twins at 16 weeks
How do you like Logan's beard?
Amy doesn't.My sister in law not only invited us all over for the potluck,
but her and my Dad's wife Susan gave us a lesson on Handel's Messiah.
Kim also made us our own CD to take home.
Wasn't that so thoughtful of her!

By politically incorrect, do you mean the lyric "no woman's worth crawling on the earth"? It's funny, but all those pop songs from my teen years had questionable lyrics when I listen to them now. But back then, I wasn't really listening to the lyrics. If you had asked me what a song was about, there is a good chance that I wouldn't have had a clue! They might as well have been singing "la la la la la ..."

I so agree Darlene...I was the same way..if the song sounded good back then, that was all I cared about. I had never even noticed that line you mentioned so I went back, and sure enough it was there. I think Dennis was referring to the "walk like a man, talk like a man..." as the now 'politically incorrect' way to sing.

Darlene, I also think it would be politically incorrect for a brother and sister ages 8 and 10 to sleep in the same bed, but we did. I think that was the last year though. Families just made do with what they had.

I slept in the same room with David for years and then will Billy. I didn't like being alone and I was the only girl. Do I dare even mention that we took baths together?

I love hearing about all your fun times. I miss not being able to live closer so I could be involved in some of these things. It was good seeing pictures of Mackenzie, Lauren, Brooke and Robin. They all look great.

What a wonderful couple of days you've had! Lots of good, good memories. I loved both of those songs and I, too, didn't really listen to all of the lyrics back then, but the music was great!! Thanks for sharing your days.

"He who wants the nut must crack the shell," now I know who Wendy can thank for that timeless wisdom I continue to share with her. You probably also taught me, "He who excuses, accuses." Wendy loves that one too.

There would have been no pictures available for you to take of me sleeping. When you and Dennis thought I had retired to my room each night, I actually snuck out the bedroom window and kept a soldiers marching vigil in front of the house each night in order to protect you and Dennis. Thankfully, it worked. There were no security breaches on my watch.

Well Karen, I didn't have lemons in mine. Actually they brought me my water with a lemon in it and I told them I needed water without. So they took it away and came back with the water minus the lemon. I wonder if they just went back there and removed the lemon and brought me the same water back. Probably.

I saw that Logan cleared up the beard thing. Cause I do love his beard. I love everything he does but the mustache. He will be doing the mustache in December and that I don't care for but I still think he is the cutest guy ever :)Amy

I don't think you ever need to apologize for a long post! That was such a "FUN" read! I loved the stories, I loved the photos-you have such a good looking family. I love that Dennis, Mondel & your dad love BYU football-It's all so GREAT! VERY COOL Beautiful, beautiful family!!!

I saw your post on my blog & I had to rewrite everything. I was talking on the phone and in a big rush-I made SOO many typo's-ugh! Anyhow-thanks for your comments-you know I love ya!

Jill, you know we moved to Fairmont in 1960. If we shared a room on Madison we would have been even younger than you remember...6 and 8 at the oldest. Maybe you're confusing me with Michael Cardoza or one of your other boyfriends?? I recall sharing a room with John. Maybe you both had similar haircuts and I'm remembering incorrectly. Come to think of it, his taste in music did seem rather effeminate. Maybe it was you afterall!

Oh it was me. I'm talking Fairmont, that room right off the bathroom. We had a double bed. I remember by the time I was 8 or 9, you were out of there. It was June 1961 when we moved to Fairmont from Madison. Peggy was born the next month.

You have such an awesome family!! I wish I was part of it. I saw Amy at Target. She looks so cute and happy. I didn't say anything to her because I didn't know if it would be weird telling her I knew her from your blog.

"Charity is accepting someone who has let us down; or resisting the impulse to become offended when someone doesn't handle something the way we might have hoped...The best and most clear indicator that we are progressing spiritually and coming unto Christ is the way we treat other people..."-Marvin J. Ashton